Weaving device

ABSTRACT

A weaving device having a plurality of substantially parallel, elongate resilient fingers carried at one end by a base portion, alternate of the fingers being somewhat longer than the others of the fingers. Yarn may readily be interwoven under and over alternate of the fingers by applying a bending force to the end portions of the longer fingers to deflect them, thus permitting the yarn to be inserted along a substantially straight-line path. Yarn may thereafter be inserted parallel to, and in the place of, the fingers to create a woven fabric or article.

United States Patent 1 Alberici et al.

[ WEAVING DEVICE [76] Inventors: Gisele M. Alberici, 2362A Folsom St., Lilly U. Botta, 764 7th Avenue; Henry W. Jahrens, 715 45th Avenue, all of San Francisco, Calif.

22 Filed: May 17, 1971 21 Appl. 110.; 144,107

[52] US. Cl. 28/15, 139/34 [51] Int. Cl. D03d 29/00 [58 Field of Search 28/15, 2; 139/ 34,

1 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,803,051 8/1957 Gutzmann 28/15 2,065,498 12/1936 Bacheller 139/34 1,975,924 10/1934 Collingbourne 28/15 2,166,668 7/1939 Webster et a1 139/33 2,224,563 12/1940 Clark 139/33 [1 11 June 19, 1973 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 547,795 8/1932 Germany 139/34 771,000 7/1934 France 139/34 1,123,572

6/1956 France 139/34 Primary ExaminerJames Kee Chi Attorney-Townsend and Townsend [57] ABSTRACT A weaving device having a plurality of substantially parallel, elongate resilient fingers carried at one end by a base portion, alternate of the fingers being somewhat longer than the others of the fingers. Yarn may readily be interwoven under and over alternate of the fingers by applying a bending force to the end portions of the longer fingers to deflect them, thus permitting the yarn to be inserted along a substantially straight-line path. Yarn may thereafter be inserted parallel to, and in the place of, the fingers to create a woven fabric or article.

1 Claim, 7 Drawing Figures PATENIEDJUN] 9|973 3,739,437

24 INVENTORS GISELE M. .ALBERICI LILLY U. BOTTA IO FIG 5 HENRY W. JAHRENS WWW ATTORNEYS p m n JUN 1 9197s 7 SIEEIEUZ INVENTORS GISELE M. ALBERICI LILLY U. BOTTA HENRY W. JAHRENS Ml-jll nn r(4---( TORNEYS WEAVING DEVICE This invention relates to a weaving device, and more particularly, to an improved comb loom.

Comb looms having a plurality of parallel, substantially rigid elongate fingers or tines have heretofore been used to produce woven fabrics or articles. In order to interweave the yarn under and over alternate of the fingers, repeated manual manipulation of the yarn is required. Such manual manipulation is unduly time-consuming and tiring, thereby rendering the use of conventional comb looms unduly difficult and unnecessarily tedious.

According to the present invention, an improved comb loom having a plurality of substantially parallel, elongate resilient fingers attached at one end to a base portion is provided. The resilient nature of the fingers enables the operator of the loom to bend alternate of the fingers, so as to allow the yarn to be interwoven under and over alternate of the fingers by passing the yarn along a substantially straight-line path. To facilitate the bending of alternate of the fingers, alternate of the fingers can be somewhat longer than the others of the fingers, so that a bending force can be selectively imparted thereto at the end portions thereof extending beyond the shorter fingers. According to a further aspect of the present invention, the first and last of the fingers can be somewhat wider than the others of the fingers, so that the yarn may be cut at the ends of the weave to readily form a decorative fringe, as hereinafter described in greater detail.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved unitary comb loom having a plurality of substantially parallel, elongate resilient fingers carried at one end by a base portion.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a comb loom having a plurality of substantially parallel, elongate resilient fingers, alternate of the fingers being somewhat longer than the others of the fingers.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a comb loom having a plurality of substantially parallel, elongate resilient fingers, the first and last of said fingers being somewhat larger than the others of said fingers, to facilitate the provision of a decorative fringe on the ends of the weave.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved comb loom in which the yarn may be interwoven over and under alternate fingers by passing the yarn along a substantially straight-line path.

The comb loom according to the present invention is advantageous in that the manual dexterity required to interweave the yarn over and under the fingers is substantially reduced, thus making the weaving process faster, easier, less tiring and thus less expensive.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the weaving device according to the present invention, part of the weave being shown thereon;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the apparatus depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the needle employed with the weaving apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view, similar to FIG. 1, showing the weave completed on the weaving device according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view, similar to FIG. 4, showing a weave substantially completed in an alternative manner on the weaving device according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a plan view, similar to FIG. 1, of an alternative embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a portion of the completed weave produced employing the apparatus depicted in FIG. 6.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 5, there is shown generally at 10, a weaving device or comb loom according to the present invention. Weaving device 10 generally comprises a base portion 12 and a plurality of substantially parallel, elongate fingers 14 and 16, attached at one end to base portion 12. Yarn 18 is interwoven under and over alternate of the fingers l4 and 16, as illustrated in FIG. 1, and as is conventional in the art of comb loom weaving.

According to the present invention, however, the interweaving of yarn 18 under and over alternate of the fingers 14 and 16 is facilitated by forming the fingers I4 and 16 out of a resilient material, such as thin steel, sheet metal, plastic or the like. In this manner, the yarn 18 may be employed to apply a bending force to the fingers, to enable the yarn to pass under and over the fingers along a substantially straight-line path, as illustrated in FIG. 2.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, alternate of the fingers are provided somewhat longer than the othersof the fingers, to facilitate the bending of the fingers during insertion of the yarn l8. Specifically, fingers 14 are provided somewhat longer than fingers 16, as illustrated in the drawings. Preferably, fingers 14 are of equal length and comprise the outer fingers of the comb loom 10 and alternate of the fingers therebetween. Similarly, fingers 16 are preferably of equal length. Such a construction is advantageous in that the bending of the fingers to permit inser tion of yarn 18 along a straight-line path will be facilitated.

In greater detail, the interweaving of yarn 18 under and over alternate of the fingers 14 and 16 may be described as follows: First, the comb loom 10 according to the present invention may be held in the operators hand by base portion 12, so that one side of the loom faces the operator. One end of yarn 18 is held stationary adjacent base portion 12, preferably by the same hand which supports the loom 12. With the other hand, the operator presses or urges yarn 18 against the ends of fingers 14, so as to urge the fingers 14 away from the operator. This, in turn, will result in the bending of fingers 14 so as to achieve a staggering of the fingers 14 and 16 as illustrated in FIG. 2. Yarn 18 may then be drawn inwardly toward the base portion 12, between fingers l6 and 14, so as to achieve the desired interweaving of the yarn. It will be appreciated, and as is apparent from FIG. 2, that the yarn can initially pass along a substantially straight-line path between the fingers.

As yarn 18 is urged against base portion 12, and the operator removes the urging force therefrom, it will be apparent that the fingers 14 will return to place due to their resiliency, thus deflecting the yarn 18 into a conventional tortuous path.

After insertion of a row of yarn 18 in this manner, the operator then preferably turns the loom so that the side of the loom previously facing away from the operator is now facing toward the operator, and inserts a second row or line of yarn 18 in a similar manner. This procedure is repeated until either the loom is full, or a weave of the desired size is formed.

In order to complete the weave on the comb loom according to the present invention, yarn must be interwoven with yarn 18, perpendicular thereto. To this end, an elongate needle or bodkin 20, illustrated in FIG. 3, is provided. Yarn may be interwoven with yarn 20 two alternative manners. First, if the completed weave on loom 10 is of appropriate size, a single piece of yarn 22 may be interwoven with yarn 18, as illustrated in FIG. 4. This may preferably be accomplished by passing needle 20 under yarn 18 along one of the fingers 14 or 16, threading yarn 22 through the eye in the end of needle 20, and then drawing needle 20 out of the weave, the yarn 22 being pulled therethrough in the desired manner. Yarn 22 may then be drawn back and forth as illustrated in FIG. 4, along adjacent of the fingers 14 and 16 to form a completed weave. The completed weave may then be removed from the fingers l4 and 16 to complete the weaving according to the present invention.

Alternatively, if the desired size of the woven article is greater than the size of fingers 14 and 16, the weave may be completed as illustrated in FIG. 5. Specifically, a plurality of strips or loops of yarn 24 may be interwoven with yarn 18, each of the strips 24 passing in one direction along one of the fingers 14, and in the opposite direction along the adjacent fingers 16. Since the comb loom may comprise an odd number of fingers, as illustrated in FIG. 5, a strip of yarn 26 may be threaded through the odd or single finger l4 and terminated at the adjacent finger 16 via stitches 28.

In this manner, the weave will be completed with a plurality of strips of yarn 24 and 26 extending longitudinally therefrom along the direction of the ends of the fingers l4 and 16. The weave may then be removed from the loom l0, and a subsequent weave completed thereon. Thereafter, the strips 24 and 26 may be drawn through the subsequent weave to join the two weaves and thus form a larger woven article. Of course, strips of yarn 24 and 26 may be of any desired length, to enable the weaving of articles of any desired size on a loom of fixed size.

Referring now to FIGS. 6 and 7, an alternative embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail. Specifically, there is provided a comb loom, shown generally at 30, having a base portion 32 and a plurality of substantially parallel, elongate fingers 34, 36 and 38, attached at one end to base portion 32. Yarn 40 is interwoven under and over alternate of the fingers 34, 36 and 38, as illustrated in FIG. 6, and as is conventional in the art of comb loom weaving. In accordance with the previous embodiment of the present invention, fingers 34, 36 and 38 are preferably formed of resilient material, and alternate of the fingers, namely fingers 34 and 36, are somewhat longer than the others of the fingers, namely fingers 38, to enable insertion of yarn 40 along a substantially straight-line path.

According to this embodiment of the present invention, the first and last of the fingers or end fingers 34, are somewhat wider than the others of the fingers 36 and 38. The operation of this embodiment of the present invention proceeds substantially identically with that described with respect to the previous embodiment. Specifically, yarn 40 is interwoven under and over alternate of the fingers and yarn 42 is thereafter interwoven with yarn 40, perpendicular thereto, with the aid of a needle or bodkin, to complete the weave.

After completion of the weave, the outer edges of yarn 40 adjacent the outer edges of end fingers 34 may preferably be cut to form a plurality of free ends 40a extending outwardly from the weave. As is apparent from FIG. 7, free ends 40a form a decorative fringe on one or both sides of the weave, as desired. In order to maintain the integrity of the weave, a row of stitches 44 may be sewn on free end portions 40a adjacent yarn 42.

As is apparent from FIGS. 6 and 7, the length of free end portions 40a will be substantially equal to the width of end fingers 34, and will thus be somewhat greater than the weave width, thus contributing to the decorative effect of the fringe formed thereby. Thus, increasing the width of end fingers 34 will enable the production of decorative fringes of increasing width.

While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described in detail, it is apparent that adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention, as set forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A weaving device formed from a unitary piece of thin flat resilient material comprising a base portion and an odd number plurality of substantially parallel elongate resilient fingers, said fingers being carried at only one end by said base portion, the other end of each finger being free standing, alternate of said fingers being substantially of a first length and all of said other fingers being substantially of a second length, said first length being greater than said second length, said alternate fingers including the first and last of said fingers, said first and last fingers being somewhat wider than the others of said fingers, and adapted to form a decorative fringe along their respective lengths. 

1. A weaving device formed from a unitary piece of thin flat resilient material comprising a base portion and an odd number plurality of substantially parallel elongate resilient fingers, said fingers being carried at only one end by said base portion, the other end of each finger being free standing, alternate of said fingers being substantially of a first length and all of said other fingers being substantially of a second length, said first length being greater than said second length, said alternate fingers including the first and last of said fingers, said first and last fingers being somewhat wider than the others of said fingers, and adapted to form a decorative fringe along their respective lengths. 